Naruto saw twins as people who looked alike and were always together, but have different mind-sets and argued twenty-four seven. He had no idea. He just based it off from some stupid cartoons, where twins didn't exactly get along.

He didn't know about his twin, but he was positive that his relationship with his never-seen-before twin would be a good one.

After the week Naruto heard the news about his parents, he waiting on the porch outside with one of his father's closest friends, Iruka. The adult gave Naruto a reassuring smile to comfort Naruto in his grief.

Naruto's red-haired mother lived with him all his life, in the country while his blonde father lived with Menma. He had an important job in the city, which was hours away from the country. Their mother also had a job in the country. They couldn't just leave their jobs to live together. They decided to have a share of the twins.

About a week ago, they decided to have a reunion for a few days. Kushina, their mother, left Naruto behind because the road connecting the two places was dangerous. Sure enough, this was proved when she finally picked the father and son up and returned. Returning, the car was slightly hit by another car and lost balance. It tumbled down on a cliff, as Kushina tried to get with Menma, his twin, being the sole survivor.

"It's okay, Naruto. Everything's gonna be okay."

Iruka, the self-proclaimed guardian of Naruto after the accident of their parents, who was now living in the house of Kushina, commended how the blonde handled the news with mastery. Death was not an easy subject, especially when it came to parents. Naruto tried to swat away some insects that were buzzing around the lightbulb. Iruka almost laughed as he tiptoed, to no avail in reaching the pests.

"Hey, at least you're meeting your twin tonight, right? He even has a gift for you."

"Yeah . . ."

The first word that Naruto said all day.

"I just hope he is nice."

"What are you talking about? Of course he's gonna be nice! If he's your brother—much more your twin—you two would go well together."

Used to the country life, Naruto wondered how his twin would treat him. Menma seemed pampered, due to his urban lifestyle. He wished that his twin wasn't one of those spoiled brats who had their parents wrapped around their little finger. He just couldn't understand why some of them saw parents as a genie, only with unlimited wishes. If he had more time with his parents, he would give them his most.

"Menma . . ." mumbled Naruto.

Here's the deal: Naruto loved ramen. He loved every single topping there. He loved the tasty blend of the noodles and all the other add-ons. One thing he couldn't stand? The menma topping. He hated the feel of menma in his mouth. Out of all the other possible things his parents named his twin, it was Menma. He was already gagging inside.

A yellow cab flashed a blinding yellow light on the dark night. Naruto covered his eyes. The rumbling of the engine must've disturbed the neighbors because some lights inside the rooms opened. Naruto saw some silhouettes.

"Oh, whaddaya know? Speak of the devil."

The car skidded to a stop in front of their house. The passenger in the back seat opened the door and walked out. His appearance left Naruto's mouth ajar from the shock of their similarities.

Menma was wearing a black coat with a fur collar. There was a thin ribbon tied, keeping the coat together. Naruto wasn't sure what was underneath that piece of clothing, but he was sure that Menma was wearing boots. Menma had the same wild hair that Naruto had, but it was black and shaggier. They also had similar birthmarks that looked like cat whiskers, but Menma's was more open. His eyes were as cerulean as Naruto's, and everything else was exactly the same.

Menma performed an act of self-dependence by taking his own bag in the trunk. He wanted to admit that he was not so independent, but he was learning. The taxi cab sped away, leaving Menma coughing from the smoke. Naruto giggled internally. He found Menma's cough rather cute.

Menma walked close to them and bowed—so did Naruto. The two brothers had a silent staring contest. Iruka had no idea what they were doing and headed to the introductions. Naruto blinked first, taking a smug smile out of Menma.

"Naruto, this is Menma—and Menma, Naruto. But I'm sure you two already know each other. My name is Iruka Umino. I'm sure you two already met before, but maybe just for a number f moments or something."

"Oh . . ." Menma mumbled. "I actually have tiny memories of Naruto. Just faint ones. I can barely get them to surface, but I do know that I have the slightest idea. But that was probably a faraway memory when we were babies. I probably have an idea on who Naruto is."

"And who is Naruto?" Iruka questioned. Menma put his hand on Naruto's head, as if he was belittling him.

"He's my twin who is younger than me by a few minutes."

Iruka chuckled, while Naruto had a disgusting distaste in his mouth. The guts of his twin. Still, he wondered how Menma kept a positive façade after suffering loss from both parents. Naruto caught sight of some motions from Menma's coat. Menma rolled his eyes and pulled out a tiny orange creature. Naruto recognized it as a young black fox. It squirmed in Menma's clutches. Iruka sighed helplessly, after remembering all the experiences he had in which Naruto had pets.

"Oi, Kurama, stop it. I was about to take you out anyway."

Menma handed the cub to Naruto, whose breath was taken away when the fox's fur shifted color from black to orange. Even Menma wasn't aware of that skill. They all ooh'd in amazement. The fox purred in Naruto's arms.

"I never knew he could do that."

Menma put his hand on Kurama. It had a mix of orange and black until Menma put his hand away, reverting it to its orange color. Out of curiosity, Iruka tried to pet Kurama to see it change color, but the fox snarled at him and almost bit his finger. Iruka pulled back in terror. Menma scratched his head.

"Kurama doesn't like getting touched by anybody else but me . . . and maybe Naruto."

Naruto rocked the baby fox, drowned in his own thoughts. It was a shame that Menma remembered him, but he didn't. He wanted to just roll up to a ball and try to prevent eye contact from his twin.

"That's my gift for you . . . Naruto. I hope you like it."

"I—uh . . . love it, actually."

Naruto poked Kurama's nose. The fox was already trying to sleep. Menma thought that he'd give Naruto the fox he found months ago. He managed to save it from hunters. He didn't want Naruto to feel lonely.

"Why don't we go inside?" Iruka suggested. "Maybe you'd like to unpack already."

"O-oh! Okay . . ."

The wheels of Menma's bag skidded across the concrete to the wooden floor. When they entered, Menma judged the environment as homey. He knew that he was going to be comfortable living there.

Menma's boots clomped on the tiled floor. He took them off and slipped in into soft sandals. Naruto walked side-by-side to him. His presence made Naruto feel more alive in a way. After going through his grief for almost a week, he managed to make Naruto grin.

It was a simple house with one floor. At the very beginning was the living room that served as the kitchen and the dining room too. There was a sofa at the far middle of the room and in front was the television with a cable connection and a dusty gaming console. To their left was the counter where all the cooking was done. Behind the sofa was the table for eating. At the center right side was a hallway. There were three doors. The nearest one led to a bathroom. The next one led to Naruto's room and the last led to Iruka's room. Menma didn't bother entering Iruka's room.

"Sorry. We don't have any guest rooms. You're gonna have to share with Naruto. We already moved in a bed for you there."

"It's okay, I-Iruka-san."

Menma felt like the heaven above just saved him. Menma was afraid of being lonely. He would rather be with the worst person I the world than love alone. And even if they did had a guest room, he planned on sneaking in on Naruto's room.

Kurama perched on Naruto's head and curled to a ball to sleep. Naruto tried his best to keep his balance. Menma explained that Kurama always did that.

Menma looked at the wooden door of Naruto's room. It was littered with handwritings of "Dattebayo!" and "Believe it!" Menma wasn't much for encouraging words but he found solace in them.

Naruto's room looked like a tornado just flew by, followed by a flood. There were bags of chips and rolls of yellow paper on the floor. There was a salty stench of food in the air. But none of them were in effect to Menma.

There was a white cabinet in front of Menma, which was twice his height. There were two beds, each fit for one person. One bed, which screamed orange, was right next to the wall. Menma assumed it was Naruto's bed, considering that Naruto was wearing an orange shirt and orange pair of shorts. The other bed was separated by half a foot away from Naruto's bed. It had a black theme, to Menma's liking. It was next to a hamper for dirty clothes. There was an old air conditioner, which was exerting just enough cold air to keep the room at a chilly temperature on top of Naruto's bed. There was a nightlight in between the two beds. In between the cabinet and the bed were the windows. There was a bookshelf right next to the cabinet, with scarcely any books. Lastly, there was an electric fan on top the nightlight.

"Naruto, didn't I tell you to clean your room?"

"Eh . . . sorry."

Naruto started to walk out of his room to get a broom. Kurama jumped down and slept on Naruto's bed, almost blending in. Menma sat on his bed and opened his bag. He pulled out all of his clothes and put them in the cabinet while Naruto cleaned the room. He put some of his books in the bookshelf. He wanted to help Naruto clean, but he still had a job to do.

After finishing, Menma untied his coat and rolled it messily and threw it in the hamper. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants underneath. Color addiction: A trait that was common to both boys. Menma got a tiny bed in the bag and placed it on the bottommost layer of the bookshelf, which had no books.

Both of them sat on their respective beds and studied each other. There was a tingling feeling of excitement, seeing each other.

"So you're Menma."

"And you're Naruto."

Ugh, I'm so stupid! They both thought, We already know that way long ago! It's not like we just met now.

"We're twins."

"I guess so."

"We look a lot alike."

"Yeah, it's crazy."

The door creaked slightly open with Iruka peeking at them. Both of them turned to Iruka simultaneously. Kurama jumped up and ran to his bed, which was at the lowest layer in the bookshelf.

"It's already late, boys. You two better go to sleep already."

They nodded and Iruka turned the lights out. They got under sheet in their own beds, still staring at each other like they were mirrored. Menma waited for a minute and then he got up and pushed his bed carefully and silently to Naruto.

"What are you doing?" asked Naruto.

"I just—grr—wanna sleep next to you."

"Why?"

"What's wrong with it? Spending time with my adorable twin won't hurt anybody."

Naruto held his breath and blushed. He was glad that the darkness hid his pink cheeks. He wasn't used to receiving compliments such as "adorable" from people, especially those he was just acquainted with. But Menma was his brother, so that was an exception.

"You think I'm adorable?"

"Y-yeah." Menma panted as he gave one final push to connect the beds. "You're insanely cute and adorable and I'm drop-dead handsome and hot."

Naruto giggled as Menma flexed to prove his point. Menma had what people called a playboy personality—which was unusual for a nine year old. It's the first time Naruto laughed ever since his parents died.

Menma's breath was taken away as he saw the thin smile of Naruto. He usually never tolerated any people with the same nature as Naruto. But the blonde was just so innocent, he couldn't take it. Menma would never admit it, but he was as innocent as a new-born. Menma always tried acting tough, but he was just as childish as Naruto was.

"Do you have Wi-Fi here?" asked Menma as he lied down next to Naruto. The blonde got a bit cuddly and scooted closer to Menma. The older twin wasn't much of a fan of that type of stuff, but Naruto's innocent glow comforted him.

"Yeah. We barely even use it though. Ever since . . . uh—you know."

Naruto was at a loss of words, so Menma patted his back like the responsible brother he was going to be. Naruto smiled and focused on his words. That wasn't a bad start. Their first meeting was going smoother than Naruto expected.

"I know—I know. You're still in shock over our folks' deaths, especially Mom's 'cuz you lived with her. I'm still hurt too, y'know, but you gotta let life go on. Just calm down and look at me in the eyes."

Naruto gulped and obliged. Naruto never found such intense blue in his life. His mother always said that Naruto had a soft kind of blue, but Menma's was metallic. Naruto's breathing slowed down.

Menma whipped out his phone from his pocket. It was a Samsung phone that was as big as Naruto's hand. The wallpaper was an image of Bruce Lee in action. Naruto was surprised to find Menma to have an interest in karate. He pressed the Wi-Fi icon. A dialog box appeared with several found connections. Naruto typed the password on the first one and waited for it to connect.

"Thanks."

"Y-yeah . . ."

"You have a phone, right? Or at least use Mom's phone?"

"Um . . . yeah."

Menma looked at the top right of the phone. It was mostly no bars, but had moments where it had one. So that's why he wasn't able to call Kushina's phone most of the time. The signal there was equivalent to the middle-of-nowhere. He rarely even got to video call his twin to try and know each other. And when they did have a chance for a call, they got awkward and shy around each other that they barely talked at all.

"Do you want to watch something with me?"

Menma and Naruto were trying their best to dull their pain by not bringing the subject of their parents up. Spending time together, it seemed like it actually worked. They tolerated each other as if they weren't separated at all.

Naruto shook his head. He wasn't in the mood for anything. He just wanted to rest and let tomorrow pass by and by until school was there.

"Oh, I see. You're an early bird, aren't you?"

Naruto snorted. "What are you talking about? It's already ten."

Menma chuckled at his mistake and ran his hand on Naruto's silky hair. He reminisced the moments he did that to his father, Minato. He just liked the feeling of smooth, flowing hair of Minato. It seemed that Naruto not only inherited the color, but also the texture of it.

"Do you want me to turn the nightlight for you?"

Naruto shrugged and looked at the window. Moonbeams were pouring on the window, illuminating the room. He shook his head. Naruto rested his arm on Menma's side and cuddled closer.

"Keep acting like this and I'll really treat you like a little bro."

Naruto puffed his cheeks and rolled his eyes. Menma smiled and tried drifting off to sleep. Naruto felt a sense of incompleteness without his mother's nightly ritual. He tapped Menma's shoulder. Menma looked at him with lazy eyes.

"What is it?"

Naruto's cheeks flushed and looked away. He managed to gather the strength in his voice to overpower his embarrassment. Menma wondered why Naruto was acting rather sheepishly around him.

"Mom always . . . kissed me goodnight."

Menma processed Naruto's words. He tsked and flicked Naruto's nose, knocking him back by a few inches accidentally. Naruto clutched his stinging nose. Menma looked where he could give Naruto a kiss. His cheeks seemed the best place. He noticed that they coincidentally had the exact same kind of birthmarks, only that Naruto's whisker-like birthmarks were thinner.

Is Naruto . . . blushing? Menma stifled his laughter inside.

The pain on Naruto's nose miraculously disappeared as he felt Menma's lips peck his cheek. He touched the area where Menma had kissed him and lied down. He suddenly felt like his head was in the floating like a balloon

"Go to sleep, little bro."

"I'm not your little bro; I'm your—"

"Good niiiight~"

Naruto woke up with his hand rested on a Menma-shaped crater. He had one of those moments when he wasn't sure exactly how he slept. He wiped the nasty drool off of his mouth and noticed that there was a tiny pool of saliva on Menma's side.

So he drools while sleeping too, huh? We have so many things in common—it's scary.

He yawned and hopped off of the bed. Menma woke up early. Naruto assumed that Menma was using the television, judging from the noise outside.

He walked to the living room, still half-asleep. Sure enough, Menma was playing a fighting hand-to-hand combat game. Naruto personally liked those games. Those games were designed to be played in a tactical manner, but Naruto usually just recklessly mashed every button to perform a combo every time as if he was going to get lucky and drop his opponent's health to zero. He weakly sauntered to the sofa.

He lackadaisically greeted, "Good morning, Menma." He massaged his eyes and glared at the television. He registered the game to be Tekken.

"Morning, bro. Where's Iru—oomph!"

His words were cut short as Naruto felt gravity and drowsiness pull him down. He crashed on Menma's lap. Menma continued playing as if nothing happened. No distraction such as Naruto was going to stop him from the inevitable chances of his victory.

"He leaves very early for work."

"Shouldn't we have a guardian?"

"Eh. I proved him that I can handle myself the time he moved here. Mom taught me how to take care of myself."

Menma found it annoying that their conversation just died after the mention of Kushina. He paused the game and sighed. So much for trying to not dwell on the past.

Menma felt bored that he was just playing against a CPU, so he handed the other controller to Naruto.

"You can be my Player Two."

Naruto groaned as Menma picked a multiplayer match. He could see right through Menma's eyes. And Menma wasn't pleased.

"Stop whining, dork."

Naruto jumped up. The words weren't meant to be hurtful. He focused on the screen and mashed the buttons to defeat Menma. He wasn't planning on losing, but so did Menma.

Menma's character was already glowing red while Naruto's character was barely hurt at all. He growled in frustration as he tried to make a comeback. Unfortunately, Naruto delivered the final blow on him.

"GAH!"

Menma threw his hands up in the air. He glared at Naruto, who looked like he was about to fall over. He was confused. No, they were confused.

What were they feeling?

It's as if they want to be better than the other.

Menma wanted to tear his hair out. The loss against Naruto made him bitter about it, but somehow, he was proud that Naruto was able to beat someone immersive to gaming. Meanwhile, Naruto felt like he could brag right in front of Menma's dumb face, but was still sorry about beating him.

"You're such an annoying twerp, Naruto."

"Heheh."

Have they really known each other for a day? They felt like they were never separated at all.